FENCING, WALLING, HEDGING. 65 



we should be afraid, while naihng the trees, that the whole 

 concern would rattle about our ears, and destroy our fruit as 

 well as the fragile fabric we were using. 



Hedging and Ditching. — We come now to the common 

 way of taking in a jDiece of ground — hedging and ditching; 

 the first step towards which is banking and ditching. If we 

 make a taper ditch two feet wide at top and one foot wide at 

 bottom, and throw the stuff out on one side, it will form a 

 bank fru^o feet "wide at bottom and one foot wide at top, as high 

 as the ditch is deep, that is, supposing we could make the 

 bank as solid as the earth we disturbed ; but, as it would — 

 being loose — occupy a good deal more room, the bank would 

 be much larger than the hole we had made. If there were 

 any means of keeping intruders from damaging the ditch and 

 bank, we would at once plant a double row of quicksets, that 

 is to sa}", of thorns two years old ; these cut down to six 

 inches, or even three inches, would be a formidable finish to 

 the top of the bank, and make a capital fence. But if there 

 were any beasts in the neighbourhood, hedge, bank, and ditch 

 would be soon destroyed altogether. We should, therefore, 

 resort to some means of protecting the thing for three years ; 

 and the cheapest remedy is a railing of fir-poles, to keep cattle 

 and horses from treading into the ditch. The quickset ought 

 to be planted sloping outwards, about six inches up the bank ; 

 and, by making a kind of ledge there, that the water might 

 all run away from the young plants when it rains, the hedge 

 will very soon form an impenetrable barrier. All the quicks 

 may be shortened to from three to six inches, according to 

 their strength. At the end of the first year's growth, cut it 

 down again to within a couple of inches of the first cut, and 

 the consequence will be tliree or four shoots for every one cut 

 off, and the hedge will be very thick and strong. At the end 

 of the second year it may be cut back agaia either to a foot 

 or fifteen inches, and from that time be trimmed into the form 

 of a hog's back. Every weed that grows among the quick 

 must be cleared out ; for it is of the greatest consequence that 

 it be kept clear. The bank may be lowered from time to 

 time on the inside, and the ditch must always be kept clean ; 

 and the side of the ditch, forming of itself a bank, must be 

 kept in good order. Every year the hedge must be trimmed 

 in close, that it may thicken ; and if it be wcU managed, 

 '^^carcely a mouse can be got through it ; whereas a hedge 



E 



